JP2626304B2 - Manual shift lever device for vehicles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a manual shift lever device for a vehicle which improves the operability of a shift lever for performing a gear change.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIG. 8, a shift lever 1 has a neutral zone 2 over a predetermined length in a vehicle width direction.
Are provided with a plurality of neutral positions 3, 4,..., And are shifted to an arbitrary position by moving the shift lever 1 forward or backward from the arbitrary neutral position 3, 4,. Speed, 4th speed, ...).

That is, by shifting the shift lever 1 from the low-speed side neutral position 3 to the front or rear of the vehicle to the first speed position or the second speed position, the gear is shifted to the first speed or the second speed. Further, by shifting the shift lever 1 from the high-speed neutral position 4 to the front or the rear of the vehicle to the third speed position or the fourth speed position, the gear is shifted to the third speed or the fourth speed.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional manual shift lever device for a vehicle,
When the shift lever 1 is in the neutral zone 2, the shift lever 1 is biased by a biasing means (not shown) so as to always move the shift lever 1 to the high-speed side neutral position 4, so that the vehicle starts from a signal waiting state. For example, when shifting from neutral to first or second gear,
After the shift lever 1 has been moved laterally from the high-speed neutral position 4 to the low-speed neutral position 3, the vehicle must be moved forward or backward. It is conceivable that the driver shifts to the third or fourth speed by forgetting to move to the side neutral position 3.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a manual shift lever device for a vehicle which improves the operability of the shift lever by moving the shift lever to a predetermined neutral position according to the vehicle speed. .

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to the present invention has the following objects.
It has a shift lever neutral zone in the vehicle width direction,
The neutral zone has at least two neutral positions, and is provided with neutral position guiding means for guiding a shift lever of the neutral zone to the neutral position, and vehicle speed detecting means for detecting a vehicle speed. A manual shift lever device for a vehicle including control means for controlling the shift lever to be biased by the neutral position guiding means in accordance with the vehicle speed and selectively guiding the shift lever to the neutral position is characterized.

[0007]

According to the manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to the present invention, the vehicle speed is detected by the vehicle speed detecting means, and this signal is inputted to the control means. By this control means, the neutral position inducing means urges the shift lever in accordance with the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detecting means, and the shift lever is guided to an optimal neutral position corresponding to the detected vehicle speed.

As described above, since the shift lever is guided to the optimum neutral position according to the vehicle speed, by shifting the shift lever forward or backward from this position, the shift operation can be smoothly performed according to the vehicle speed. It can be carried out.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show an embodiment.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a shift lever provided on a console box C (see FIG. 7). The shift lever 1 penetrates the floor in the up-down direction and is viewed in FIG. As shown, it is swingably supported on the floor via the spherical portion 5.

A lower end 1 a of the shift lever 1 is connected to a shaft 6 connected to a transmission (not shown), and is supported by a spring 7.

The shift lever 1 is made to move freely in the neutral zone 2 by swinging around the spherical portion 5 and is tilted forward or backward from the low-speed neutral position 3 of the neutral zone 2 to the vehicle. The vehicle is shifted to the first or second speed, and the vehicle is shifted to the third or fourth speed by tilting the vehicle forward or backward from the high-speed neutral position 4.

In the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, the shift lever 1 is in the high-speed neutral position 4, and in the position shown by the two-dot chain line, the shift lever 1 is in the low-speed neutral position 3.
It is in.

The shift lever 1 is biased and moved as shown by a solid line or a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 by a neutral position guiding means 13 as described below. The low-speed side neutral position 3 is selectively guided.

That is, reference numeral 8 in FIG. 2 denotes a plunger of a solenoid 9, which is projected as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 against the urging force of the spring 10 when the solenoid 9 is turned on. I have. When the solenoid 9 is turned off, the plunger 8 is moved rightward in the drawing by the urging force of the spring 10, and the shift lever 1 and the like are returned to the position shown by the solid line in the drawing. When the shift lever 1 is manually operated and moved to the position shown by the solid line in the figure, the plunger 8 is retracted by this operating force.

On the other hand, a vehicle speed sensor 11 for detecting the vehicle speed is provided, and upon receiving a signal from the vehicle speed sensor 11, a microcomputer 12 as a control means controls a neutral position inducing means 13 to set the vehicle speed to a set value α1 ( In this case, the shift lever 1 is urged by the neutral position guiding means 13 when the vehicle speed is lower than the set value α1. Move lever 1 to high-speed neutral position 4.
Selectively guide and move to the side. (See FIG. 1).

Next, the operation of the microcomputer 12 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step 101, it is determined whether or not the ignition switch is on.
At 102, the vehicle speed is detected based on the signal from the vehicle speed sensor. Then, in step 103, it is determined whether or not the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the set value α1. The set value α1 is, for example, 20 km / h.

Therefore, if the vehicle speed is, for example, 20 km / h or less, the microcomputer 12 activates the neutral position guiding means 13 in step 104 and urges the shift lever 1 to guide the vehicle to the low-speed neutral position. Move to 3.

Specifically, the solenoid 9 is turned on by a signal from the microcomputer 12, the plunger 8 in FIG. 2 is protruded to a position shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, and the shift lever 1 is shown by a two-dot chain line. As a result, the shift lever 1 is moved to the low-speed neutral position 3 by swinging about the spherical portion 5 as described above.

If the vehicle speed is higher than, for example, 20 km / h,
In step 105, the microcomputer 12 activates the neutral position guiding means 13 to urge the shift lever 1 to guide the shift lever 1 to move to the high-speed side neutral position 4.

More specifically, the solenoid 9 is turned off by a signal from the microcomputer 12, and the plunger 8 in FIG. 2 is returned to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. The shift lever 1 is swung as shown by the solid line in the drawing and moved to the high-speed side neutral position 4 by the urging force.

Thereafter, the flow returns to step 101, and the above operation is repeated.

As described above, the shift lever 1 is moved to the appropriate neutral position 3 or 4 in accordance with the vehicle speed, and simply moved forward or backward from this position to easily and appropriately adjust the vehicle speed. Accordingly, a smooth shift operation can be performed.

On the other hand, the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 show modifications of the control of the microcomputer 12.

First, in FIG. 4, it is determined in step 201 whether or not the ignition switch is on. If it is on, it is determined in steps 202 to 206 whether or not the shift lever 1 is in the first to fifth gear positions. .

If the shift lever 1 is in the first speed position or the second speed position, the vehicle speed is detected in step 207 based on the signal from the vehicle speed sensor. The vehicle speed at this time is defined as α. Then, in step 208, it is determined whether the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the set value α1. The set value α1 is, for example, 20 km / h.

Therefore, if the vehicle speed is, for example, 20 km / h or less, the microcomputer 12 controls the neutral position guiding means 13 in step 209 to bias the shift lever 1 to maintain the low speed neutral position 3. .

If the vehicle speed is higher than, for example, 20 km / h,
In step 210, the microcomputer 12 activates the neutral position guiding means 13 to urge the shift lever 1 to guide the shift lever 1 to move it to the high-speed neutral position 4.

Next, in steps 211 to 213, the shift lever 1
Is in the third, fourth or fifth speed position. If the shift lever 1 is not in any of the third, fourth, and fifth speeds, the process returns to step 207. If the shift lever 1 is in any of the third, fourth, and fifth speeds, step 214 in FIG.
Updates the set value α1. This update is based on the following equation. That is, α1 = 0.9α1 + 0.1α Thereafter, the flow returns to step 201 again.

On the other hand, in steps 204 to 206, the shift lever 1
Is determined to be in the third, fourth or fifth speed position, the vehicle speed is detected from the signal from the vehicle speed sensor in step 215 of FIG. The vehicle speed at this time is defined as α. Then, in step 216, it is determined whether the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the set value α2. The set value α2 is, for example, 40 km / h.

Therefore, if the vehicle speed is greater than, for example, 40 km / h, the microcomputer 12 controls the neutral position inducing means 13 in step 217 and urges the shift lever 1 to induce the high-speed neutral position 4. Let it be maintained.

If the vehicle speed is equal to or less than 40 km / h, for example, the microcomputer 12 activates the neutral position guiding means 13 at step 218 to urge the shift lever 1 to guide the vehicle to the low speed neutral position 3. Move to

Next, in steps 219 and 220 in FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not the shift lever 1 is in the first or second speed position. If the shift lever 1 is not in either the first speed or the second speed, the process returns to step 215. If the shift lever 1 is in either the first speed or the second speed, the set value α2 is updated in step 221. This update is based on the following equation. That is, α2 = 0.9α2 + 0.1α Thereafter, the flow returns to step 201 in FIG.

As described above, by controlling the neutral position guiding means 13 by the microcomputer 12, the shift lever 1 can be selectively guided to the neutral position corresponding to the vehicle speed.

Further, the microcomputer 12 learns the timing and habit of upshifting and downshifting due to differences in driving (person), and selectively guides the shift lever 1 to an appropriate neutral position according to the driving (person). Can be done.

FIG. 6 shows a modified example of the neutral position guiding means 13. As shown in FIG.

The shift lever 1 includes a plunger 21 urged by a spring 20a toward the lower end portion 1b of the shift lever 1 from the vehicle width direction and a spring 20b.
And is swingably supported via the spherical portion 5. Further, one plunger 22 and the solenoid 24 are connected via a connecting rod 23. This solenoid 24 operates when the plunger
The spring 22 is biased in a direction opposite to the bias of the spring 20b biasing the spring 22.

That is, under the control of the microcomputer 12, when the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the set value α1, the solenoid 24
Is turned on, the plunger 22 is protruded rightward in the figure, and the shift lever 1 is urged to guide the plunger 22 as shown in FIG.
Is moved to the low-speed side neutral position 3 shown in FIG.

When the vehicle speed is higher than the set value α1, the solenoid 24 is turned off, and the plunger 22 is retracted leftward in the figure by the urging force of the spring 20b. As a result, the lever is projected to the left in the figure, and is guided by urging the shift lever 1 to move to the high-speed side neutral position 4 shown in FIG.

With this configuration, the shift lever 1 can be always held between the plunger 21 and the plunger 22, so that the operational feeling of the shift lever 1 can be further improved.

In the above-described embodiment, a description has been given of a case in which the neutral position is provided with two positions, a high speed and a low speed. However, the manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to the present invention is not limited to this. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a device having three or more neutral positions.

[0044]

As described above, according to the manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to the present invention, the shift lever is guided to the neutral position corresponding to the vehicle speed.
There is an effect that the operability of the shift lever can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a driving portion of a manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a microcomputer of the manual shift lever device for a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a microcomputer according to a modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart subsequent to FIG. 4 for explaining the operation of the microcomputer according to the modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a neutral position guiding means according to a modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a manual shift lever for a vehicle.

FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory view of a manual shift lever for a vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 shift lever 3 low speed neutral position 4 high speed neutral position 11 vehicle speed sensor (vehicle speed detecting means) 12 microcomputer (control means) 13 neutral position guiding means 8 plunger 21 plunger 22 plunger 9 solenoid 24 solenoid 10 spring 20a spring 20b spring

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A neutral position guiding means having a shift lever neutral zone in the vehicle width direction, the neutral zone having at least two neutral positions, and guiding the neutral zone shift lever to a neutral position; Vehicle speed detecting means for detecting a vehicle speed; control means for controlling a shift lever to be biased by the neutral position guiding means in accordance with the detected vehicle speed of the vehicle speed detecting means, thereby selectively guiding the shift lever to the neutral position. A manual shift lever device for a vehicle, comprising: